Agents: How Upcoming Map Upgrades Can Help You

Agents: How Upcoming Map Upgrades Can Help You

by | Jun 22, 2009

I think one of the coolest things about our upcoming release for mapping on RMLSweb is that you’ll be able to save custom Map Ranges & use them in several different searches (including Advanced Search, Hotsheet Search, Open House Search, Broker/MLS Tour Search, Actual Expired Search and Prospecting).

What does that mean to you, though? I think it will mean different things to different agents, but here’s one scenario:

You have buyers that absolutely want to buy in a particular neighborhood, let’s say St. Johns in Portland. You can set up a Prospecting profile for them and draw the custom map around JUST that area. Now the Prospecting results will only send them listings from the St. Johns neighborhood (as you define it).

Your buyers then find the house of their dreams. They’re ready to put in an offer. Since you’ve saved your Map Range for St. John’s,  you can now use it to find comparables through Advanced Search when you are putting together the offer.

Here’s a quick demonstration from John Ayers, our Help Desk Manager:

To schedule a training session on this new release, call your local RMLS™ office, or e-mail training@rmls.com.

How Affordable Are Homes These Days?

How Affordable Are Homes These Days?

by | Jun 11, 2009

Rumor has it that first time buyers (thanks to the $8000 tax credit) and investors are making the bulk of home purchases these days. Like all savvy shoppers, I’m sure they want to make sure they are getting a good deal.

While, ultimately this is extremely personal calculation (because it depends on the buyer’s income, mortgage rates, how well the house will meet their needs, etc.) there is one generic indicator that we can use to get a sense of where the market is at overall: the Affordability Index.  

This graph shows the affordability index for the Portland Metro Area by quarter since Sept. 2003.

This graph shows the affordability index for the Portland Metro Area by quarter since Sept. 2003.

According to our calculations (which are based on a formula we got from the National Association of Realtors a while back) houses have been becoming increasingly more affordable since September 2008. But what does that mean?

Let’s look at the index rating for April, which was 1.41 (see graph above). In theory, someone making the median family income $70,000 according to HUD (surprisingly it’s up this year) would earn 41 percent more money than they would need to be able to afford the monthly payment on the median priced home in the Portland Market ($246, 400 according to the April 2009 Portland Market Action–of course).

That is IF they got a loan at the 4.81 percent average interest rate per Freddie Mac in April AND they had a 20 percent down payment (which we all know isn’t all that common for first time home buyers these days).

Question is: what will happen now that interest rates are starting to creep back up? We’ll let you know in the July issue of Market Action—that’s the next time we calculate and report affordability in the newsletter.

Fun with Acrostic Poetry: Attached v. Detached Houses

by | Jun 10, 2009

We sometimes get reports of homes being entered into RMLSweb as detached homes, when they are in fact, attached (or vice versa).  We realize this can be confusing at times, so let’s briefly review the attached v. detached question. 

Let’s start with the textbook definitions:

“Attached: An element of the residence’s construction (such as a wall, ceiling, or floor) is shared with another property. Condominiums excluded.” 

“Detached: A stand-alone residence, excluding manufactured homes, for which the sale includes the land on which the residence is located.”

Now – remember how your teachers would have you come up with acrostic poems? It’s when you take each letter of your name or a word & you have to use it as the first letter in each line of the poem (here are instructions on how to write an acrostic poem… in  case you wanted to know).   

We came up with one each for Attached & Detached houses to help you remember the difference!

ATTACHED: 

Adjoined

To 

Things, such  

As

Ceilings and walls of other

Houses,

Especially  

Duplexes

DETACHED: 

Disconnected from  

Everyone, especially from

Those

Adjacent buildings,

Construction, and 

Housing. But, connected to

Earth and

Dirt 

Ok, I’m aware that acrostic poems probably won’t be particularly helpful in remembering what’s attached v. detached, but just let this silly attempt at a mnemonic device serve as a reminder to be cogniscent cognizant of the issue when entering listings. And if you’re ever unsure, feel free to give us a call!

 

 

RE-acular Vernacular: adjectives in real estate listings

by | May 29, 2009

REALTORS® have a tough job in trying to accurately & positively portray their listings, while also trying to set them apart from the pack (especially with a high-level of inventory), and I imagine it’s probably hard at times to find the right word (I can sympathize). With that said, I thought it might be interesting to see what adjectives are commonly (and not so commonly) used.

I did a quick survey of  adjectives on active listings in RMLSweb; the survey was of words that appear in the “comments” (private or public) fields in RMLSweb.

The winner was “great” at 34%, followed by “beautiful” at just over 20%. However, I should note that I do have some suspicion that the term “great room” may have affected the outcome. 

Here are the Top 20 results:

Click on the graph for a larger view

Those are the top 20, but I also spent a lot of time in the old Synonym Finder book by J.I. Rodale that we have sitting around the office. I checked out 65 words total in this highly UNscientific study (I had to stop somewhere!) Here’s the full list.

I probably missed some other common ones, but one can only spend so much time… let me know if you noticed any omissions!

Looking for Unique Language for Your Listing?

If you’re looking to be unique in your listing language, here are some words that I didn’t see in any listings:

Bewitching
Prodigious
Winsome
Wondrous
Tip-top
A Number 1 (ala Frank Sinatra)
Bang-up

Also, if you want to reach out to the younger generation, check out the Online Slang Dictionary – some very good stuff there.

This is what it looked like when I tried:

“This crib is totally fresh. It is in a bomb diggity location just outside of Portland. The kitchen is totally bonkers, with choice granite countertops & bumping hardwoods.”

DISCLAIMER: I don’t actually recommend that you use any of the aforementioned adjectives in your listings… However, if you want to, more power to you.